There’s a few things happening down in the woods at the moment. Firstly spring has arrived and with that the procession of the killer caterpillars. These processionary pine caterpillars live high up in nests on the pine trees. The first spring we had in Portugal we were overrun by thousands of these, in recent years I have seen less and less as the weather has not been quite right for them (too much rain I expect), but this year we’ve had an increase. These little hairy things are trouble, their hair is very irritating and produces a severe allergic reaction. So severe that it can kill dogs and cats and send humans into anaphylactic shock. I have been told a way to treat a dog who has licked or trodden on one of these pests is to give the animal orange juice. All very well but for anyone who has tried to get a tablet down a dog I think they know making a dog drink orange juice is nigh on impossible. Brighter, but as much of a problem as the